Tuesday, 26 July 2011

Lord Protects His Devotee

Lord builds house

Many marvelous and miraculous events were scattered throughout Jayadeva’s life. He used to serve his deities Radha-Madhava in a trance of divine love. It is said that just as the devotee dedicates himself to the Lord, the Lord also dedicates Himself to his devotee. One day, as Jayadeva was thatching his roof under the merciless, mid-day sun, Jagannath saw his devotee’s discomfort and decided to help him quickly finish the work by handing him the rope needed to bale the straw and removing the finished bundles and placing them on the roof. Jayadeva thought that it was Padmavati who was helping him in this way. But when he came down from the roof after finishing much earlier than expected, he saw no one there. He asked his wife and she told him that she had been busy elsewhere at that time. He was curious about what had happened, but was struck with wonder when he went into the deity room and saw that Madhava’s hands were black from handling the straw. He was thus able to understand that it was Madhava himself who had come to help him thatch the roof. He fell down before his Lord and started to cry.Lord teaches thieves a lesson

Jayadeva wished to put on a festival for his deities Radha-Madhava, but he was short of money. He decided to travel in order to collect some funds by making use of his poetic skills. On his return journey he was stopped by a band of thugs who not only stole his money but cut off his hands and feet and threw him down a well to die. Despite the pain, Jayadeva shouted out the
names of the Lord as loudly as he could.

After Jayadeva had spent three days in this way, the king happened to pass that way on a hunting expedition and heard the sound of the holy names coming from the hole in the ground. The king approached the sound out of curiosity and was horrified to see Jayadeva in such a serious condition. He had him pulled out of the well and brought back to his palace where he
had him treated. Under the queen’s care, Jayadeva gradually returned to health.

Both the king and queen were charmed by Jayadeva’s sweet singing of the Gita-govinda as well as by his saintly character. They sent for Padmavati and had her brought to their home to help take care of him. The royal couple heard about Krishna from Jayadeva and took initiation from him and started to make their lives successful by service to the Lord and his devotees.
One day, the robbers who had attacked Jayadeva came to the king’s palace as guests in the guise of devotees. Even though Jayadeva recognized who they were, he offered them the appropriate honor due to their outward appearance and arranged for the king’s hospitality to be extended to them. The robbers however did not understand Jayadeva’s forgiving and generous
nature and, fearing capture and punishment, thought it best to leave without accepting the royal invitation. Jayadeva understood their fear and asked the king to give them a large sum of money, and escort them on their way.

After they had gone a certain distance, the robbers said to the soldiers accompanying them, “You need not go any further. However, we would like to give you a secret message to convey to the king. Prior to becoming Vaisnavas we were the servants of a certain king who for very good reason ordered us to murder this priest, Jayadeva. That is why we cut off his hands
and feet and left him to die. The reason this priest gave us a lot of money and asked us to leave quickly is because he was afraid that this secret would come out.”

Unable to tolerate the telling of such a great lie, the Earth herself opened up and swallowed the entire gang of thieves. The goddess of the Earth was unable to support the weight of these sinful liars and so she swallowed them up. As they blasphemed the great devotee of the Lord, they met their doom in the bowels of the earth. When Sukracarya, the guru of the demons, told Bali Maharaja not to give the three feet of land demanded by Vamana Deva, Bali answered that he was the grandson of Prahlad Maharaj. How could he go back on his word like a miser once he had committed himself to giving in charity? He substantiated this by quoting the Earth,

“There is no greater irreligiousness than untruth” says the Earth. “I can bear any burden other than that of a person who constantly lies” (Srimad Bagavatam 8.20.4)

The servants of the king who had accompanied these robbers were astonished to see them punished for their offence to Jayadeva, right before their very eyes. When they came back to the king’s palace, they told him everything they had witnessed. The king inquired from Jayadeva about the robbers and he told the entire story. He said, “O king! A saintly man does not seek
revenge from those who have done evil toward him. He attempts to satisfy them by polite behaviour. Even so, the Lord’s flawless will makes them suffer the consequences of their own sin, as he did in this case.”